You’ve been planning this shopping trip all week. You received your flyers, saw the great deals, pulled your coupons and were prepared to bring home a ton of stuff for very little money.
Then, when sale day comes along, you head to the store and happily toss items into your cart. You finish shopping and head to a cashier to checkout – and that’s when it all goes downhill. The cashier refuses to take your coupons.
Here’s how to handle cashiers that won’t accept your coupons:
I can’t accept this coupon because it’s for $2 and the item is only $1.79.
Depending on where you are shopping, tell the cashier to just adjust the coupon to the price of the item (be sure to view the store coupon policy first to make sure they allow this).
If you’re shopping at Walmart or Giant Tiger, their coupon policies state that the cashier is to put in the full value of the coupon, regardless of how much the item costs.
I can’t accept more than 1 of this coupon because it says “1 per purchase”.
Tell your cashier that 1 per purchase, means 1 coupon per item, not 1 per transaction. Point to your 1 item and say “THIS is a purchase” and then point to the rest of your items and say “THIS is a transaction”.
That usually works for me.
I can’t accept this coupon because it’s in French.
Tell your cashier that Canada is a bilingual country and French coupons should be accepted everywhere in Canada.
If possible, bring the exact same coupon in English so they can compare the two and understand what the French one says.
I can’t accept this coupon because it’s photocopied/printed.
If it’s a photocopy, then the cashier is right. Photocopied coupons are illegal. If it’s a printed coupon, you will want to make sure that the store does in fact accept printed coupons by reading their coupon policy before you go shopping.
If they do accept printed coupons and your cashier tries to tell you otherwise, show them the coupon policy.
I can’t accept this coupon because the item is already on sale/you price matched it, and it says “cannot be combined with any other offer”.
Tell your cashier that “any other offer” refers to any other coupon. More than 1 coupon is considered stacking and you can’t do that in Canada, except at select London Drugs & Save on Foods stores.
Having a cashier deny your coupons, for any reason, can be frustrating. Unfortunately, some stores do not train their employees very well in regards to coupons, and that’s why we sometimes run into problems.
When you have a cashier that won’t accept your coupons, if the above scenarios do not work for you and you feel it is worth your time to speak to a supervisor – ask to speak to one. Explain the issue to them and if they say the same thing that the cashier did, that’s when you ask for a manager.
Most store managers just want to make you happy and will do whatever they can to fix the problem. However, there are some managers that are also not well trained in couponing. If you have problems with the manager too, ask for their name (don’t forget the cashier and supervisor’s names, as well), store number and then tell them you will be calling head office about the issue.
The important thing to remember is to always be polite and stay as calm as possible. As the saying goes, “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”.
What do you do when a cashier won’t accept your coupons?
I don’t have any problems with the cashier to use the coupons, except Sobey, Freshco and Metro
stores don’t accept interenet printed coupons.
Just an answer for Yasmin above about diaper coupons. and “stacking” if you have a coupon that says save $5 off cruisers when you buy swaddlers. you could use an additional coupon to get the swaddlers cheaper. same with most BOGO and WUB coupons you can use coupons to get the original purchase cheaper in most cases.
Only problems I have experienced is Superstore accepting my ensure cheque but not taking off the total from my reciept I emailed company and the next the next time I went there to shop the cashier called her manager for help to redeem the coupons. And recently a cashier at Walmart said my similac cheque was expired and didn’t accept it so I took it back and later on I noticed that she read the “date printed” and the cheque didn’t expire for a few months always double check expiry dates and double check reciepts to ensure your coupons were taken off.
I am finding a total lack of ‘good food’ coupons lately. It seems I can always find tons of coupons for mouthwash, shampoo and cleaning products etc but I miss the great coupons for grocery items. We are all stocked up on cleaning supplies, toilet paper, shampoos and body wash – now I need some for food I can cook and feed the gang. This is where price matching has really been filling in the food coupon void for me lately – and I love it that No Frills has jumped on board with Price Matching all items not just staples like bread and milk as before.
well ,I have a question that I could not get a clear answer for it. The Huggies peel off coupons says Limit one coupon per purchase so some cashier refuse to take them some do and when I ask my friends they say, those are stackable so I am confused are they stackable or not and does Limit one coupon per purchase means they cannot be combined with other coupons? and if yes how come everyone says they are stackable?
Great article and some great responses. I just wanted to say to Shelby that my best experiences have been at Walmart ( and my fave cashier is an older employee). But I have heard some horror stories and I know that my store is very good with their staff and we are very lucky. I have never had one instance where pm-ing or couponing has been difficult and with my fave cashier (Mary) she scrutinizes every coupon, but she always apologizes to us for taking so much time and we always apologize back for being difficult lol. It is money out of your cash and having worked in retail for a number of years I don’t begrudge anyone doing their job.
It really irks me when couponers take advantage of the system and makes it harder for the rest of us. There was an article on another coupon website about the changes SDM is making to its Optimum program becuase people are taking advantage and ripping them off (buying their $50 worth of product so they can get their bonus Opt points and then returning the product).
I agree, Im a cashier at Wal-Mart and some people really need to let-up on us, we don’t go through extensive coupon training on “what to take and what not to take” – If we are unsure, we call a manager or CSM, and I find at this point alot of us (me included) couponers get irritated – well we are just covering our butts, we aren’t doing it to irritate you, but we also dont want to get written up, so make sure you alowtime for this in your shopping trip when using lots of coupons. We can get in deep trouble for accepting expired or multiple coupons…we are just doing what we have been told, and to be very honest, the Coustomer Service desk also is a till (express at 1-10 items) so if you have some in the range it might be faster to go through there as they know exactly what to look for. There is only so much as we as cashiers can do, and we applaud everyone who is trying to save money! Smartest thing you can do right now! – We are techinally not even allowed to leave our till to help a coustomer find something, hense why we must call for everything. And coming from experince, and being a cashier, I ALWAYS READ THE ENTIRE COUPON. Yes, I know you have read it, but the cashier might not have and again we can get in big trouble – so they need to be 100 percent sure..so please dont get to irritated when that happens, we are just doing our job!!! So please, allow time in your shopping trip for simple things like that…it doesn’t make a cashier feel very good when some of us couponers are looking at us like we are idiots, or like we are judging them or even worse – don’t know how to do our job. Happy couponing everyone!
@Jenni & @gendmom
Very strong rebuttal, in terms of price matching flyers: may times i have not been able to price match using a flyer from out of town. for example using a zehrs flyer in Whitby Ontario or using a real Canadian superstore in Barrie Ontario because those stores, although in Ontario are not in the geographical region. so i would say depends on how you argue your case.
there are manufacture coupons where the retailer is reimbursed. there are competitor coupons (like the ones found on the board inside the real Canadian superstore or zehrs front doors). the retailer will not be reimbursed however just like flyers or price matching it is a marketing technique to gain your business so that the store can move product thus making a profit. therefore it is fair to bring competitors coupons to a retailer and expect that discount as well.
@GENdMOM Not to downplay your experience, but wouldn’t your store’s competitors be the ones within a specific geographical area? I can’t go in with a Save-On-Foods flyer from the west coast and try to price match at an Ontario store, because it is not a true competitor for an Ontario store, even if both stores are Canadian. If my store here in Ontario decides not to sell it to me at a certain price, I can’t hop into my car and shop at Save-On-Foods to get the deal since the stores are all on the west coast.
Stores have the right to determine who their competitors are (usually says so in the fine print on flyers describing price matching policy). The point of price matching is to get you to buy 100% of your purchases in their store, rather than you spending only 60% of your money with them, and then driving off to another store to spend the rest of your money. Since their is little chance you will jump into a car or plane to buy diapers in Calgary or Vancouver, then Save-On-Foods is not your store’s competitor.
Also, you mentioned that the Huggies coupon was a printed coupon. Walmart’s coupon policy states that printed coupons must have “Manufacturer Coupon” printed on them, and must have a valid name & Canadian remit address. The Huggies Save-On-Foods’ $10 coupon does not have an address anywhere on it and is a store-specific coupon not a manufacturer coupon and thus does not say “Manufacturer coupon” on it. The coupon only mentions “Overwaitea Food Group” which is the company that owns Save-On-Foods.
I think you just should be grateful you were able to get such great deals on the diapers from the first cashier that accepted the coupons, and hope that that Walmart will be able to get their money back from Save-On-Foods. I think in this case, the cashiers and managers were actually in the right, although they should have been more polite about it.
I had the most interesting and crazy first time coupon user experience. My friend hooked me onto coupons about 2 weeks ago, and she directed me towards a great deal. A printed coupon that was $10 off huggies or pampers diapers + the price matchup deal with the shoppers drug mart flyer. Well I printed off a ton of them and went on my way. This deal was amazing for me, I have 21 month old twins and a 3 year old in pull-ups…I NEED THIS DEAL. SO I choose Walmart to price match. The first day I go out it went wonderfully, they took the price match and the coupons and I got around 300 huggies diapers for $9.95. Then the next day happened. I had planned to go to 3 different walmart as they were putting limits on how many packs you could buy. The first cashier listened to what I wanted to do, looked at my coupons and responded “Oh, this looks messy, gotta call a supervisor.” the supervisor took the coupon looked it over and said she had to check with the manager. Okay, so the cashier and I stand there for about 10 minutes trying to make small talk while the super chats with the manager. Finally she comes back and says “We can not accept this because we have no where to redeem it” I say, “why don’t you redeem it at the store that is issuing it Save On Foods”, she says “that’s not a store thats the website that you got it from” No, No , No…Save On Foods is one of Walmart’s competitors and although it is in the Western Provinces and we are in Ontario it is still a COMPETITOR. I try and explain this to her. She tells me she has to go back to “Brian the manager” and check it out again…..more time passes….she comes back and says “No one here has ever heard of Save On Foods it must be American” Oh my god is all I can think do they not have a computer up in Brian’s Office. I said to her “So just because no one in your store has ever heard of this grocery store chain you will not honour my coupon?” So I whip out my phone and tell her I am going to check online and show her that it is a Canadian Grocery Chain. Thats when things really went ugly, she grabbed the coupons out of my hand and totally scratched me with her finger nails, (okay so first time out couponing and it has already gotten violent), she goes back up to Brian’s office and returns quickly and tells me they will accept the coupons this time but will not accept anymore coupons in the future from Save On Foods! WHY, their policy says they accept all Canadian Competitors Coupons.
My next two stops were not so violent, but were very much the same hassle, they each had a different reason why they would not accept the coupon, one was because of the price match up with the shoppers flyer deal and the other was with the wording on the coupon itself. So it seems to me it is all up to whomever you encounter that day in the store who is working cash, or supervisor or manager!
I am new to this website and I am ashamed to say that I was totally unaware of some many things I could legally do to save money at the grocery store. About 6 years ago I signed up for coupons and did use some then my good intentions fell by the wayside. Now when I go back in to the site I am advised that my password is incorrect, and after getting a new temporary one I am not advised that I have the wrong email address, which is the only one I have ever had. I am working on getting it set back up. I am getting too wordie here, but I must say I love the information I am getting and have recommended to a friend, who is 20 years younger than I, that she should go to the site and sign up for coupons and other information. Keep up the good work. This senior is counting on you.
All it takes is one cheat to ruin it for everyone! Today, I had a woman making photocopies, it was of coupons. I was all set to tell her she couldn’t use them, but she didn’t buy anything, just the photocopies. Must have been for something else, right? Wrong!! Off she went to shop and cashed out at cosmetics, ripping off the store for about $76.00 in merchandise. What did she accomplish? Other than being branded a thief, now we can only accept 1 coupon per transaction, yes transaction, if it is an internet printer coupon because it is difficult to tell if it is from your printer or a photocopy. So if you have 4 of the same product now you can only use 1 coupon, not 4, unless it is an actual vendor coupon. Thanks a bunch lady!
Bonnie: I totally agree that not all elderly and middle aged women are bad cashiers. I have had some very lovely cashiers that are over the age of 40. 9 times out of 10, the cashier is just doing what he/she is told.. but I know for a fact that some cashiers are rude and are on a power trip – just because they can be.
I had to laugh at the elderly or middle aged women comment! You see, I am a middle aged cashier and I do know about couponing. Not all of us are jerks. I accept nearly all the coupons that come my way, don’t charge tax if the coupon doesn’t state “all taxes must be paid by the consumer”, I know it is 1 coupon per purchase, I don’t care how many you buy. I have had customers tell me they can’t use a coupon for an item on sale and I tell them that is the best time to use a coupon. I even accept coupons that may have expired by a week or so. Sorry, but I have been told by my cash supervisor that we do not accept coupons in french. I haven’t heard of cashiers being responsible for fake coupons. I often have the young cashiers asking me whether to accept coupons or not and I usually tell them to take them. I wish we could coupon like they do in the US. Please, don’t always blame the cashier, she is probably only doing what she is told, then the manager comes and gets the glory for doing what the customer wants and the cashier looks like a jerk or power tripper! And yes, I do know there are some bad and snotty cashiers out there, I have had the pleasure.
my frustration is explaining how the coupon printer programs work (limiting copies for example) or that the stores should be up to speed on which coupons their product companies are putting out, is falling on deaf ears.
http://Www.v8juice.com had a stack of coupons that NONE of the stores up here will accept even after I suggested they go online and look it up themselves!
Lean Cuisine had one with the customer’s name printed RIGHT ON IT for fraud prevention with a limit one per customer and that wasn’t accepted either! Its kind of ridiculous.
I can sit here with a physical disability after my children are in bed and hunt for coupons while JacAxx sits around pointing the finger and probably facebooking all his/her friends. (Coincidentially, I used to work online from home until a machine replaced me. Next time you’re doing a google search, remember that once upon a time, people used to TYPE those results in for you!)
My question is why are these companies not catching up to the internet age! At least get up to speed on which of your distributors are putting out printable coupons (easily done by way of message to their clients I would imagine) or update your system to SCAN coupons (2 separate stores told me they did not have that technology yet which was why they could not accept printed coupons as they had no way of determining whether or not they are real. However, the barcodes on coupons printed with a coupon printer (coupons.com or gocoupons.ca for example) DO work on properly equipped scanners which would determine pretty quickly whether or not a coupon was valid.
A friend of mine actually told me that he uses his Iphone for coupons because it automatically searches out the coupons online, copies the barcodes and communicates with the check out… tempted to buy an iphone but then my question becomes, why are the online coupons accepted via IPHONE and not via paper?
shelley: Walmart is the only store who’s coupon policy states that the consumer does NOT pay taxes on free items. Any other store, though, you do (unless the coupon states that taxes are included).
How do you handle stores who try and charge you the tax on an item that is Free or trying to charge you tax on items you are using the coupons on.
I wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone who puts the site together. It is a wonderful site.
I am a cashier/ customer service/ manager at the store I work at, which is in the Loblaws chain. I have done this for five years now. I understand what everyone is saying about frustrations with store policies and having some people throwing kinks into the coupon plan. Please also take into consideration though, we (employees) are all responsible for what we do personally and professionally. There have been many times I have wanted to quietly look into a customer’s eyes and say “listen you maniac, I am doing a job, I am not immune to your unkind and rude behaviour.”
I have been called alot of bad names by people because of the silliest things. For example, when we started charging for bags, when we changed policies about rainchecks, and when we started the most dreaded “multibuy” junk. Please remember, we probably feel the same way you do about these policies. If we made the decisions we would certainly not be working behind a till, self scan or doing returns. This I assure you of.
Coupons are no different. In our store printed coupons are a no no. We have many, many small rules when it comes to accepting coupons, vouchers, freebies and the like.
Enjoy your quests for coupons but PLEASE remember, the cashiers, new or not, do not make the rules. We follow them and when we don’t, we are reprimanded with either a write up (3 strikes and you’re out) or cash from paychecks, depending on which chain you work for. Loblaws does not remove anything from our paychecks in our banner but the write ups are far worse.
Happy Couponing! Thank you again for this site:)
Erin – Unfortunetely stores do have the right to limit quantities, but they usually only do that for mega sale items. It seems like that manager just wanted to be a jerk!
Hi Cassie,
Last night I was at Superstore and there was a $1 store coupon for any Crest or Oral-B item. So I headed over to the Travel-size items section and grabbed 40 mini-toothpastes @ $1.09 ea. (Score!)
When I got to the till, I was forced to go through a big riga-ma-roll about “This tube of toothpaste is a purchase. This load of groceries is a transaction” with the Cashier, then Supervisor, then Store Manager. Finally realizing I was right, the Manager became defensive and said, “Well, I can restrict your quantities, though.” She only let me purchase 20 of the original 40.
What can I do to prevent this happening again? I did not clear the shelf, I read the coupon carefully. Seems I did everything right! So why did I have to leave the store feeling mistreated and frustrated??
It’s funny to me that JacAxx has the time to troll couponing blogs just to tell people writing or reading the articles that they are wasting their time and should do other things with their lives. Other, more useful, things? Like trolling blogs perhaps?
the Foods and service union, which cashiers belong to, at least here in Toronto, Canada. Cashiers are responsible for fake coupons personally. If money is missing from the till we arent ( provided we didnt steal / help someone steal it ) but for fake coupons we are. It also has the whole “Checking for ID” for over 19+ stuff, you could claim it looked real enough. Stores aren’t really notified of fakes, and by the time they are its usually too late for the most part and thats only if its been mass done.
Yes, if a store is suppose to accept coupons, then they should. Thats not what im arguing. They should also be trained on such a matter but thats not always the case. If it isnt the case, then the best thing for them personally to do is to get the bookkeeper(Cashiers manager).
Also to the above post, if the lesson was 30 seconds, then they probably didn’t have time to tell you that you are monetary responsible or they wanted you to think you weren’t, or the store management policy is to not make you responsible.(The union says you can be) They also probably try to deduct from your salary too when money is missing from your till, which is illegal. ;p
I worked as a cashier, customer service non’the’less. (Grocery store)
Also to admin, the store manager is the one that says they should be accepted, but that’s not the manager who trains the cashiers and suppose to teach them, it’s really the bookkeeper that should be blamed, not the cashier or store manager.
Zak, I’ve never heard of a cashier being monetarily responsible for fake coupons before! Honestly, coupons aren’t given much thought by trainers at these stores, I should know, I think we spent an entire 30 seconds in my training at Loblaws on coupons…
On printed coupons, yes most are told beforehand about fakes, but they are not always, stores find out about fraudulent coupons the hard way too.
i don’t know what you’re talking about with your $10 a week comment.
however, i will not let someone else raise my child, which is why i stay home. and i do have a job THANKYOUVERYMUCH.
using coupons is soooo not a waste of time.
Why don’t you just get a job, pay for childcare, stop wasting time with coupons, and do other things in life? I can’t imagine spending $10 thinking of coupons a week.
Thanks for posting Mrs January!
i understand that stores have to pay out of pocket if a coupon ends up being fake, but if the manager says to accept printed coupons, then cashiers should be accepting them. stores are notified of fraudulent coupons and they should educate their staff on these as well.
There’s just one problem with the photocopy, printed. The cashiers are responsible by union for any money from fake coupons. For instance, if you gave him a $2 coupon, and they accept it and it turns out to fake, which is very easy for photocopy/printed. Then the cashier is out $2 personally. If the manager says do it, or something of the sorts, then they are taking the responsibility for the coupon and they will be out the money if it goes bad.
As for the rest, that is a newbie cashier, but the printed/photocopy is really to protect themselves personally. Once a supervisor or manager gives them the okay, they are then saying they will be responsible for it if it goes bad.